Spiral wire fastener for sheets of material

ABSTRACT

A wire fastener for tightly holding together, and anchoring to a concrete slab, overlapping portions of metal sheets used as sections of a permanent concrete form. A portion of the wire forms a spiral which is screwed into coinciding holes in the overlapping portions of the sheets whereby adjacent turns of said spiral frictionally engage the outer sides of the outermost of said sheets. The wire also has a loop extending from the large end of the spiral which provides means for turning said spiral. Wireway ducts interposed between the metal sheets may also be held in place by the wire fastener.

Unite States atent Galloway 1 Apr. 4, 1972 54] SPIRAL WIRE FASTENER FOR SHEETS 1,501,986 7/1924 Evans, Jr ..52/447 x ()1? MATERIAL 1,967,071 7/1934 Wilson ..52/378 3,165,136 1/1965 Horton..... ...85/32 X 1 lnvemofi James Galloway, Bethlehem, 3,193,971 7/1965 Galloway ..52/336 x 1 3 ml h St [C 3,243,755 3/1966 Johnston ...85/32 X [73] Asslgnee e e m ee 3,260,149 7/1966 Deaver ..s5/1 [22] Filed: June 18, 1969 3,304,680 2/1967 Birdwell ..52/220 [21] Appl' 839776 Primary ExaminerAlfred C. Perham Related US. Application Data Attorney joseph OKeefe [63] Continuation-in-part of Ser. No. 760,308, Sept. 17, [57] ABSTRACT 1968, abandoned.

A wire fastener for tightly holding together, and anchoring to 52 US. Cl ..s2/s21 52/220 52/334 3 Concrete Slab mapping Pmons Sheets used as 85/46y sections of a permanent concrete form. A portion of the wire [5!] Int Cl I I I E04d 3/365 forms a spiral which is screwed into coinciding holes in the [58] Field l' 'g 447 521 334 overlapping portions of the sheets whereby adjacent turns of 3 3 85/46 5 said spiral frictionally engage the outer sides of the outermost of said sheets. The wire also has a loop extending from the l 56] References Cited large end of the spiral which provides means for turning said spiral. Wireway ducts interposed between the metal sheets UNITED STATES PATENTS may also be held in place by the wire fastener.

1,221,151 4/1917 Davis ..52/521 2 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures PATENTEDAPR 4 m2 INVENTOR James M 6a//away CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application is a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 760,308, filed, Sept. 17, 1968, and now abandoned.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Overlapping corrugated metal sheets used as sections of a concrete form which is left in place after the concrete cures are well known in floor, roof and bridge deck construction. In concrete floor construction, wireway ducts made of metal sheets may be interposed between some of these corrugated sections.

When erecting a concrete form of this type, it is necessary to join the sheets tightly together at their overlap, and often as many as four sheets must be held together. Without a tight overlap, concrete will be displaced from its proper location and drop through the sheets. Additionally, to limit deflection of the form, it is desirable to secure the overlapping portions to the concrete.

Self-tapping screws have been tried as fasteners for holding the metal sheets together and securing them to the concrete, but this means is unreliable and relatively expensive. Another commonly used fastener is a welding washer abutting the top of the upper overlapping sheet at a hole which is burnt in this sheet while welding a portion of the washer to the lower sheet. Wing-like projections on two sides of the washer serve to anchor the attached sheets to the concrete. However, this fastening means is also unreliable as the welder frequently burned holes through both the upper and the lower sheet.

It is an object of this invention to provide a reliable, inexpensive fastener which is adapted to hold together sheets of material having substantially coinciding holes therein.

It is a further object to provide such a fastener which is ideally adapted for tightly holding together metal sheets used as sections of a permanent concrete form and also is adapted for anchoring said sheets to the concrete.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION l have discovered that the foregoing objects can be attained by providing a wire having: (a) a first portion defining a spiral wound about, and extending along, an axis passing through the center of said spiral; and (b) a second portion, extending from the large end of said spiral, constituting means for turning said spiral. This fastener can be used for tightly holding together two or more sheets of material having substantially coinciding holes therein, and may have wide application in the automotive and appliance field. The combination of said fastener and said sheets constitutes one aspect of the present invention.

Preferably, said second portion comprises a loop, lying in a plane substantially diametric to said spiral, which can be grasped and turned by hand. However, said second portion may also be bent into forms which can readily be gripped by specially designed hand tools.

It is also preferred for the pitch of the spiral to decrease as its diameter increases. This permits the frictional forces of the spiral to increase more rapidly as the fastener is screwed into the sheets of material.

In its narrower aspects, the invention comprises the combination of a concrete slab abutting two or more sheets of metal joined together by said fastener, the above-referred-to second portion of said fastener being embedded in said concrete whereby said sheets are anchored thereto.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 shows the fastener of the invention holding together overlapping portions of two corrugated metal sheets used as permanent concrete form sections.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the fastener of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is an elevation view taken along the line 33 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 shows a fastener, identical to the one in FIG. I, securing a wireway duct to a corrugated metal concrete form section.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT As illustrated in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, the subject fastener comprises two essential portions, viz. a portion defining a loop I and a portion defining a spiral 2. As used herein, the term spiral" is meant to be limited to the path of a point that moves round an axis while continuously receding from it." The portion defining the spiral 2 is wound about, and extends along, an axis passing through the center of said spiral, while the portion defining the loop 1 extends from the large end of said spiral 2 and constitutes means for grasping and turning the spiral 2. The small end of the spiral 2 terminates in a short essentially straight portion 3. The spiral portion 2 is screwed into coinciding holes, 40 and 4b, made in the overlapping portions of corrugated metal sheets, 5a and 5b. These metal sheets are sections ofa permanent concrete form abutting slab 6. Loop 1 of the fastener is embedded in slab 6 and thereby anchors the overlapping sheets to the slab.

Because of the continuously increasing diameter of the turns of the spiral 2, adjacent turns of said spiral frictionally engage the outer sides of sheets 5a and 5b to a constantly increasing degree as the fastener is screwed into the coinciding holes 4a and 4b. This effect is enhanced by decreasing the pitch of the spiral as its diameter increases.

FIGS. 1, 2 and 3 show that the loop 1 of the fastener lies in a plane substantially vertical and diametric to the spiral 2. By grasping and turning this loop, sufficient leverage is obtained to screw the spiral into coinciding holes, 4a and 4b. The end of the loop is located within the large end of the spiral, thereby preventing the loops of the fasteners from becoming entangled with eachother when the fasteners are shipped loose in a contamer.

As is most clearly shown in FIG. 3, connected to the small end of the spiral is a short essentially straight portion 3 which facilitates screwing the spiral into the coinciding holes. This portion is disposed at an angle, preferably of about to the axis of the spiral so that it may hook under the lowest overlapping sheet when the spiral is projected into the holes. All the sheets may thereby be brought together with the straight portion 3 before the fastener is turned and screwed down into the holes.

A common practice in concrete floor construction interposes wireway ducts between some of the corrugated metal forms. FIG. 4 shows a fastener, identical with the one illustrated in FIG. 1, but connecting a wireway duct to an adjacent corrugated metal sheet 7 abutting concrete slab 8. The wireway duct is trapezoidal shaped and contains a bent top metal sheet 9 welded to a fiat bottom metal sheet 10. Portions of these two sheets overlap a portion of corrugated sheet 7. Coinciding holes have been made through three sheets; hole 11a is in the corrugated sheet 7, and holes 1111 and 11s are in sheets 9 and 10 respectively of the duct.

Similar to FIG. 1, the spiral portion 2 of the fastener, which has a pitch which decreases as its diameter increases, is screwed into the coinciding holes whereby adjacent turns of said spiral frictionally engage the outer sides of sheets 7 and 10. Loop 1 of the fastener is embedded in slab 8, while the short essentially straight portion 3 of the fastener serves the same function as illustrated with the two overlapping corrugated sheets of FIG. 1.

At least two added advantages may be obtained from the use of my fastener in building construction. The lower part of the spiral portion 2 provides a convenient projection beneath the concrete form from which suspended ceilings may be hung with a tie wire. In addition, when welded steel mesh, shipped in coil form, is being installed as reinforcing in the concrete slab, the mesh may be held down and its recoiling prevented by the loop of the fastener.

Iclaim:

1. In combination:

spiral, constituting means for turning said spiral; said fastener being screwed into said holes whereby adjacent turns of said spiral frictionally engage the outer sides of the outermost of said sheets- 2. The combination as recited in claim 1, in which said second portion comprises a loop. 

1. In combination:
 1. at least two sheets of material having substantially coinciding holes therein; and
 2. a fastener for joining said sheets comprising a wire having: a. a first portion defining a spiral wound about, and extending along, an axis passing through the center of said spiral; and b. a second portion, extending from the large end of said spiral, constituting means for turning said spiral; said fastener being screwed into said holes whereby adjacent turns of said spiral frictionally engage the outer sides of the outermost of said sheets.
 2. a fastener for joining said sheets comprising a wire having: a. a first portion defining a spiral wound about, and extending along, an axis passing through the center of said spiral; and b. a second portion, extending from the large end of said spiral, constituting means for turning said spiral; said fastener being screwed into said holes whereby adjacent turns of said spiral frictionally engage the outer sides of the outermost of said sheets.
 2. The combination as recited in claim 1, in which said second portion comprises a loop. 